TAMIU Sports Notes
It has been a great week for the Texas A&M International University volleyball team. Last Saturday, TAMIU snapped Houston Baptist University’s 116-match winning streak in Red River Athletic Conference regular season matches with a 3-1 road victory over the Huskies. That momentous win extended TAMIU’s winning streak to 11 matches and propelled the Dustdevils to a 25th spot in this week’s NAIA top-25 poll.
TAMIU and HBU are tied atop the RRAC East Division standings in the loss column with the Dustdevils (12-1 RRAC) closing out conference play at the RRAC Cross-Over Tournament at UT-Permian Basin this weekend. The Dustdevils will face Southwestern Assemblies and College of the Southwest on Friday
before closing out the conference slate with a showdown with Texas Wesleyan on Saturday. TWU (18-3 overall) is ranked 12th in this week’s NAIA top-25 poll.
HBU (10-1 RRAC) will also play at the cross-over tournament before closing out conference play with home matches against Texas College and Jarvis Christian next week. The winner of the East Division will host the RRAC postseason tournament on Nov. 10-12. If TAMIU and HBU are tied at the end of the regular season, HBU will host the tournament by virtue of winning the tie-breaker of game record against the two tied teams (HBU, 4-3). HBU swept TAMIU, 3-0, on Sept. 17 in Laredo.
Women’s Soccer Notes
TAMIU will close out the regular season with a home Red River Athletic Conference game against Texas College on Saturday. Although a win would tie Texas College and TAMIU for fourth place in the conference standings the Dustdevils have already secured the fourth and final spot in the RRAC postseason tournament because Texas College has not played the NAIA minimum number of official contests. The RRAC postseason tournament will be hosted by TAMIU on Nov. 4-5. Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Dustdevil Field.
Men’s Soccer Notes
Like the women, TAMIU’s men’s soccer team will close out the regular season with a home conference game against Texas College on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Dustdevil Field.
Unlike the women’s side, however, the tournament picture on the men’s side is complicated. A win over Texas College on Saturday would place TAMIU in a three or four-way tie for first place in the final conference regular season standings. If TAMIU beats Texas College the Dustdevils would secure the number one seed if Texas Wesleyan closes the season with wins over Southwestern Assemblies and Huston-Tillotson, UT-Permian Basin beats Wiley
and Northwood beats College of the Southwest. The Dustdevils would be the fourth seed with the only change in the preceding scenario being a College of the Southwest win over Northwood.
The six-team RRAC men’s soccer postseason tournament will be hosted by TAMIU on Nov. 3-5.
Cross Country Notes
TAMIU’s cross country teams will participate in the Red River Athletic Conference Championships this Saturday at Northwood University in Cedar Hill. Senior Anetra Matthews enters the race as the defending conference individual champion. The Dustdevils finished second in the team standings in both the men’s and women’s divisions at the conference meet last season.
After this weekend’s conference meet the Dustdevils will compete at the NAIA Region VI Championships on Nov. 5 at Oklahoma Baptist University.
For additional information, contact TAMIU Athletics at 326.2892, e-mail dlathey@tamiu.edu or visit www.tamiu.edu/athletics
Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu